Gmail

633 'Gmail' stories June 2011 - October 2014

See All Stories

Announced on April 1, 2004 with an unprecedented 1GB of user storage, many assumed that Gmail was just one of Google’s April Fools’ pranks. For comparison, competing services only had 2 to 4MB for users to store email messages and attachments. Currently, Gmail storage is combined with that of other Google products with 15GB available for free.

Gmail was released in beta with an invite system and was not open to the general public until February 2007. In July of 2009, it finally dropped its beta status. As of February 2016, Gmail is the most widely used web email provider with 1 billion active users worldwide.

Besides email, Gmail has a number of features, including integration with Google Drive for sending large attachments and choosing images from Google Photos. Users can fully search their email with advanced spam filtering and labels to manage messages. Google also scans emails to show context-related advertisements.

Since launch, the email service has gone through a number of redesigns. Apps are available for Android, iOS, and the mobile web.

Lollipop will see big update to Gmail app, will handle non-Gmail accounts too

Ben Lovejoy Oct 20 2014 - 6:55 am PT

[protected-iframe id=”7770eb70df41976815fdd008a9ff8e18-22427743-8994189″ info=”https://vid.me/e/yx3″ width=”368″ height=”490″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

If you were wondering why Google hasn’t yet introduced an updated version of the Gmail app on Android to match its Material Design guidelines, the answer appears to be that it has something big in store. Gmail 5.0, which will be introduced as part of Android 5.0 Lollipop, will for the first time allow you to access all your email accounts within the same app, Gmail and non-Gmail alike …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Gmail for iOS updated with support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus display sizes

Mike Beasley Oct 6 2014 - 10:37 am PT

Google has updated the Gmail app for iOS with support for the larger displays on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. There don’t seem to be any other unmentioned changes (still no unified inbox), but you won’t have to use the awkward zoomed view when using the app anymore.

You can grab Gmail version 3.1415926 (yes, that’s Pi) for free from the iOS App Store.

What’s New in Version 3.1415926
Support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Gmail

Gmail adds new full-screen mode for images within emails

Jordan Kahn Sep 30 2014 - 10:37 am PT

Google has just rolled out a nice new feature for Gmail that lets you click to view images within an email in a full-screen mode.

You might be familiar with the full-screen mode for Gmail on the web, which was already available for images and documents attached to emails. Now you’ll get the same experience when clicking on emails contained within the body of an email:

New! View images within your message full-screen

Similar to attachments, you can now click on large images within a message to see them full-screen in Gmail on the web. Click the Google Drive button to save the images directly to Drive or the arrow button to download them to your computer.

European Union tells Google combining user data across services without opt-out is illegal

Ben Lovejoy Sep 26 2014 - 4:07 am PT

Google has come under fire from European Union officials on a number of fronts already. It’s been accused of unfair search results, been criticized for the way it has implemented the controversial ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling and asked to stop describing apps which offer in-app purchases as ‘free.’

Reuters now reports that the EU believes Google is breaking the law in combining user data across unrelated services like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps without offering users an opt-out, and the way in which it has consolidated 60 separate privacy policies into one …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google announces new ‘iOS Sync’ features for Google Apps users

Chance Miller Sep 10 2014 - 2:43 pm PT

Google has announced a new tool for its iOS Google Apps users this evening that makes it easier to manage accounts and settings. Called iOS Sync, the feature will be integrated directly in to the company’s iOS Gmail and Drive apps and offer a variety of new management tools.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Refreshed Hangouts in Gmail makes it easier to see who’s online

Mark Hearn Aug 26 2014 - 2:37 pm PT

Today, Google announced an update that improves Hangout’s integration in Gmail. In an effort to make your contacts more accessible, this new tab displays friends who are online first, followed by those who aren’t. You can still send messages to offline contacts, however they won’t get them until they sign into Hangouts from a desktop, smartphone or tablet.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Gmail now blocking email w/ suspicious letter combinations to protect against scammers

Jordan Kahn Aug 12 2014 - 11:32 am PT

Google announced today that it’s adding a new feature to its spam filtering support in Gmail that will help it protect against possible scams and spam as it introduces support for non-latin characters. Google announced earlier this month that it was adding support for the non-latin characters in email addresses (like accented characters and those written in a script like Chinese), and that it hoped the rest of the industry would follow to offer a seamless mail experience in various languages. Google said today, however, that with the new feature comes the possibility of new scams taking advantage of similarities in characters:

Scammers can exploit the fact that ဝ, ૦, and ο look nearly identical to the letter o, and by mixing and matching them, they can hoodwink unsuspecting victims. Can you imagine the risk of clicking “ShဝppingSite” vs. “ShoppingSite” or “MyBank” vs. “MyBɑnk”?

To protect against these possible scams, Gmail will now block emails with suspicious letter combinations based on an open standard from the Unicode Consortium:

To stay one step ahead of spammers, the Unicode community has identified suspicious combinations of letters that could be misleading, and Gmail will now begin rejecting email with such combinations. We’re using an open standard—the Unicode Consortium’s “Highly Restricted” designation—which we believe strikes a healthy balance between legitimate uses of these new domains and those likely to be abused.

Google says the changes are rolling out to Gmail users starting today.

Gmail adds easy to find unsubscribe button next to sender’s address

Jordan Kahn Aug 6 2014 - 9:33 am PT

Google announced today that it’s adding a new “unsubscribe” link at the top of emails in Gmail making it easy to unsubscribe from mailing lists. Most of us have hunted for the unsubscribe button in an email that marketers often bury at the bottom and make hard to find. Some users might have noticed the feature rolling out in recent weeks, but it appears Google has now made it live for all.

Making the unsubscribe option easy to find is a win for everyone. For email senders, their mail is less likely to be marked as spam and for you, you can now say goodbye to sifting through an entire message for that one pesky link.

This new Gmail feature will get rid of that problem by detecting emails that include an unsubscribe link and putting an easy to access button right next to the sender’s email address. You’ll notice the option in Gmail’s Promotions, Social, and Forums inboxes.

Gmail (and soon Calendar) adds support for non-Latin characters in email addresses

Jordan Kahn Aug 5 2014 - 9:52 am PT

Google announced today that it’s adding support for non-Latin characters in email addresses in Gmail. That means that email address names that contain accented characters or those that are written in a script like Chinese can now be both sent and received from Gmail:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google discusses child porn detection policies after recent sex offender arrest

Mark Hearn Aug 5 2014 - 7:38 am PT

Photo: http://www.corporateofficeheadquarters.com

Google recently helped police in Houston, Texas catch a sex offender after tipping the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that it had located explicit pictures of children in a man’s email. Although the search giant’s efforts helped catch a criminal, they’ve also made some people wonder if the company regularly monitors its subscribers’ email accounts.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google helped police arrest a man for child abuse after locating explicit images in his Gmail account

Mark Hearn Aug 4 2014 - 8:44 am PT

Google helped law enforcement arrest a man in Houston, Texas by sending a tip to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The search giant used information obtained from the suspect’s email account, according to a report from Business Insider. Already a registered sex offender, the man was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1994 and was recently caught after sending explicit images of a child via email.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Gmail for iOS updated with ‘Insert from Drive’ and ‘Save to Drive’

9to5 Staff Jul 24 2014 - 11:51 am PT

Google has released an update to Gmail for iOS this afternoon that brings “Insert from Drive” and “Save to Drive” functionality to the iPhone and iPad. Just like with Gmail on the web, iOS users can now insert files directly from Google Drive into emails.

If the recipient does not have shared access to the Google Drive file you are sending them, Gmail for iOS will inform you so that you can change the sharing sendings before sending it.

“Important stuff doesn’t always happen when you’re conveniently sitting at your desk. Maybe you’re out to dinner when your boss tells you that she needs the latest project proposal ASAP, or your daughter calls you on your commute home to ask you to proofread her college essay (that’s of course due that night!). While we can’t make your life more predictable, today’s update to the Gmail iOS app, along with earlier updates to the Gmail Android app, makes it easier to get stuff done on-the-go.”

Gmail for iOS also now allows you to change your profile directly through Settings, allowing you to set a profile picture or update your personal information right from your iPhone or iPad.

Lastly, the latest version of Gmail for iOS allows you to choose which signed-in accounts you want visible in the app for users with multiple accounts.

The update is rolling out on the App Store now.

What’s New in Version 3.14159

• Save attachments directly to Google Drive so you can access them anywhere while saving space and bandwidth on your device
• Insert Google Drive files directly into messages
• New account management options to choose which accounts you want to have visible in Gmail without removing accounts from your device.
• Change your profile picture (in Settings)

Google Voice now features calling from Hangouts on the web

Zac Hall Jul 24 2014 - 6:53 am PT

We reported earlier this year that Google has plans to eventually roll Google Voice’s features into its Hangouts service and retire the former product, and we’re slowly seeing that transition play out now. Google’s Alex Weisen, who works on Google Voice, shared last night in a Google+ post that they’re making calling via Hangouts an option from the Google Voice website. Furthermore, the functionality will not require a Google+ account to work either. The option appears to be live on the Google Voice web interface now.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google continues enterprise push for Google apps with delegated contacts search

Ben Lovejoy Jul 16 2014 - 6:26 am PT

Google has announced a new feature for enterprise users of Google Apps: the ability for assistants and other team members to search for particular people in their boss’s contacts list.

Contacts delegation allows enterprise users to delegate full access to the contacts in their “My Contacts” group without granting access to their mail or anything else in their accounts. […]

To save users time when locating specific delegated contacts, we’ve now added search functionality. Delegates can search delegator contacts by selecting the delegator contact group in the navigation pane, and then searching.

It’s not the most exciting of new features, but is one of those small things that can make a worthwhile difference to a PA who might have to contact a dozen or more people a day – and every improvement like that helps Google build its case for broader enterprise adoption of Google Apps.

Leaked screenshots show off revamped Play Store designs – bigger, bolder, clearer

Ben Lovejoy Jul 14 2014 - 4:26 am PT

Here’s what the Google Play Store is likely to look like when it gets its ‘Material Design’ revamp based on the new look and feel of Android L. Google has already started rolling out the new design language on the web in the form of new pages for Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The screenshots were obtained by Android Police, which says that the redesign of the Play Store is “well underway” …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Gmail for Android update adds Insert from Drive for attaching Google Drive files to emails

9to5 Staff Jul 9 2014 - 11:59 am PT

Following updates to Chromecast, Google Maps and Google Camera this afternoon, Google has updated Gmail for Android with a new Insert from Drive feature that allows for Google Drive attachments to be inserted into emails directly from Android smartphones and tablets. If the file is not shared with the person you are sending it to, an option will pop up to change the sharing settings.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Goldman Sachs taking legal action against Google to retrieve a misaddressed email [Update: Google complied]

Chance Miller Jul 2 2014 - 2:47 pm PT

Image via Reuters

Update: The WSJ reports that Google agreed to block access to the email, and advised that it had not been read

According to a new report from Reuters, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs is taking legal action against Google over an email that it accidentally sent to the wrong address. The report claims that a Goldman Sachs employee was sending an email, but instead of putting the correct @gs.com ending, the employee put @gmail.com, which in turn caused the email to be sent to a total stranger.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google introduces new API beta that makes it easier for apps to integrate Gmail features

Jordan Kahn Jun 25 2014 - 11:23 am PT

Yet another announcement from Google I/O today comes in the form of a new Gmail API beta that will make it easier for developers to integrate Gmail features into their apps:

While IMAP is great at what it was designed for (connecting email clients to email servers in a standard way), it wasn’t really designed to do all of the cool things that you have been working on, which is why this week at Google I/O, we’re launching the beta of the new Gmail API.

Designed to let you easily deliver Gmail-enabled features, this new API is a standard Google API, which gives RESTful access to a user’s mailbox under OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports CRUD operations on true Gmail datatypes such as messages, threads, labels and drafts.

So what’s the benefit over IMAP or other solutions that developers have already been using to integrate Gmail features? Google says the new API, unlike IMAP, “gives fine-grained control to a user’s mailbox.” That means that an app, for example, “only needs to send mail on behalf of a user and does not need to read mail, you can limit your permission request to send-only.” There are also other benefits like speed:

To keep in sync, the API allows you to query the inbox change history, thereby avoiding the need to do “archaeology” to figure out what changed. Finally, a huge benefit is speed. While there’s still some tuning to be done (“beta” – remember?), results from our tests and feedback from pre-release developers suggest that the new Gmail API is delivering dramatic performance improvements over IMAP for web application use cases.

Google has more on the new API here.

Google Now adds improved Calendar and Gmail integration with new inferred events feature

Chance Miller Jun 12 2014 - 2:02 pm PT

Google appears to have made a backend tweak to Google Now this afternoon that adds a feature rumored earlier this year. First spotted by Android Police, Google will now grab events from your Gmail app and put it in a Google Now card. The Now card will have the option to add the event to your calendar or ignore it.

Expand
Expanding
Close

New Chrome extension PixelBlock lets you stop email trackers in Gmail

Stephen Hall Jun 12 2014 - 1:15 pm PT

A new extension has landed in the Chrome Web Store called PixelBlock, which lets you block companies and individuals from tracking whether or not you’re opening their email. As you can see above, the extension shows a small red eye when it has detected a tracking attempt.

The creator, Omar Qureshi, had this to say about the plugin:

I made this to protect my email privacy and find out at the same time who’s trying to track me, and what they’re using. Was pretty surprised to see who used email tracking on me while sifting through my emails with PixelBlock on.

It’s not uncommon for companies that send out newsletters and the like to track those who are and aren’t opening them. With this quick extension, available completely free, you’re just one click away from being protected while using the web-based Gmail client.

Google aims to unify app design with new ‘Quantum Paper’ framework

Chance Miller Jun 11 2014 - 6:45 pm PT

Leading up to Google I/O this year, we’ve seen a handful of leaks regarding the design of Android. We’ve seen redesigned apps leak, such as calendar, the dialer, and Gmail, as well as updated icons. According to a new report out of Android Police, all off these recent design leaks and updates have been apart of a new program within Google called Quantum Paper.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google breaks down how much email is encrypted during transit, launches End-to-End encryption tool

Jordan Kahn Jun 3 2014 - 1:29 pm PT

Google wants you to know exactly how much email you send and receive is encrypted during transit, so today it launched a new section in its Transparency Report that does exactly that:

When you mail a letter to your friend, you hope she’ll be the only person who reads it. But a lot could happen to that letter on its way from you to her, and prying eyes might try to take a look. That’s why we send important messages in sealed envelopes, rather than on postcards… Email works in a similar way. Emails that are encrypted as they’re routed from sender to receiver are like sealed envelopes, and less vulnerable to snooping—whether by bad actors or through government surveillance—than postcards.

Google notes that Gmail has always used encryption in transit using Transport Layer Security (TLS), but that doesn’t do much if the email client on the other end isn’t doing the same. Around 40 to 50 percent of emails between Gmail and others aren’t encrypted, according to Google, and it provided the following chart of what services are using encryption:
Expand
Expanding
Close

More images of Gmail for Android redesign leak, more simplistic interface shown

Chance Miller May 23 2014 - 2:39 pm PT

Over the past couple of months, rumors of major changes to Gmail on Android have been circulating. Geek.com leaked screenshots of a redesigned interface that was very colorful compared to the current app. We reported on some new features coming to the app, as well, including a snooze functionality. Now, Google+ user Yoel Kaseb has posted some images of what he claims is a redesigned Gmail app for Android. Kaseb also leaked images of a Google+ update that ended up being almost entirely true.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Gmail for Android updated with interface tweaks, ability to save attachments directly to Google Drive

Chance Miller May 19 2014 - 5:48 pm PT

Ahead of its tradition “update Wednesday” regiment, Google has pushed out a minor update to the Gmail app on Android today. The update bumps the app to version 4.8 and includes some various interface tweaks, most notably in the slide-out navigation menu (via +Gmail)

One of the changes includes profile images next to individual profiles on the slide-out navigation menu, and should you have more than one account, there’s also now a checkmark to better indicate which account you’re currently using. The Settings and “Send Feedback” options have also been crammed into the slide-out panel, whereas they previously were located in the action overflow button in the upper right corner.

Expand
Expanding
Close